The present invention pertains to a container, in particular a fluidized-bed container with an upper housing section and a lower housing section. The housing sections are connected together in a detachable ring-shaped zone of separation, and a seal is provided in this zone of separation.
Containers for chemical substances and mixtures (powders, solvents or solvent mixtures or hybrid mixtures) include reactors or fluidized-bed containers, for example. For many substances and mixtures, in particular powders, there exists the danger of explosions, for example dust explosions, during storage or, primarily, during processing.
Simple, standard reactors or containers for mixtures of substances that can be tolerated in the environment are designed merely to withstand an overpressure of 2 bar, for example. At higher pressures, e.g. in the event of an explosion, the pressure is relieved through an opening, for example upward, at a kind of design rupture point (explosion channel) and finally through the roof of a manufacturing building.
Particularly where highly active pharmacological substances are concerned (for example; hormones or substances similar to hormones; cytostatics or other anti-cancer substances such as aromatase inhibitors or Letrozole; microtubule poisons, such as Taxole, Epithilone or Discodermolide and the like; these substances are highly active even at the mg level), this form of relief is not permissible due to the danger of exposure to the environment. Here, measures must be taken to ensure that the system is closed even in the event of an explosion: existing regulations, such as VDI 2263, require that here, in case of an explosion, for example inside of a closed container such as a reactor, no exhausting of any components of the contents is permitted to the outside (e.g. through explosion channels). On the other hand, it is permissible for the container to deform.
In these closed systems, it is therefore required that there must be the ability to withstand pressures of 10 bar and above (for example 12)—explosion pressures in this range occur in most of the common particulate materials (in particular dusts) in the pharmaceutical industry.
In fluidized-bed containers, for example, these high pressures are counteracted by providing containers that are relatively large with a relatively thick wall and to provide outlets with fast-closing devices as necessary (for example as described in DE 31 37 116), which seal off the container in the event of an explosion, requiring the container walls to absorb the explosion pressure (these walls being relatively thick and consequently resulting in high weights). This absorption of pressure is accomplished through the deformation of these walls.
A common design of a fluidized-bed container has the upper section rigidly fixed, whereas the lower section of a two or more sectioned container, in particular a fluidized-bed container, is mounted on sets of disk springs. In the event of an explosion, these disk springs are able to absorb deformations and to absorb the respective forces. The prior art also includes the method of designing the respective containers from the outset in such a way that the container sections are connected together by a force lock both in the normal state as well as after an explosion (for example through bolted connections of ring-shaped flanges of the sections). The disadvantage in this is the high design costs and, in particular, the considerable effort to install and adjust due to the disk springs.